Chinese semiconductor thread II

[LanceD23]

China and US find out some serious truth.
That's why trump phoned China to the point of harassment level for talk to resume rare earth export from China especially the type used for military.

The significance of rare earth tech holding by China >>>>> the significance of semiconductor tech holding by US.

China holds the processing and extract technology for 99% of rare earth.

China is capable of 5nm chip production.

Yet US doesn't have any rare earth processing tech.

China willing to export restricted amount for civilian use such as for auto industry.
But nothing for military.

In short, China's holding of rare earth processing tech >>> the leverage US has on semiconductor such as NVidia and TSMC.

 

[tphuang]

China and US find out some serious truth.
That's why trump phoned China to the point of harassment level for talk to resume rare earth export from China especially the type used for military.

The significance of rare earth tech holding by China >>>>> the significance of semiconductor tech holding by US.

China holds the processing and extract technology for 99% of rare earth.

China is capable of 5nm chip production.

Yet US doesn't have any rare earth processing tech.

China willing to export restricted amount for civilian use such as for auto industry.
But nothing for military.

In short, China's holding of rare earth processing tech >>> the leverage US has on semiconductor such as NVidia and TSMC.

Let's keep our conversation in this thread to semiconductor. We can discuss rare earth in the scientific and tech thread.

 

[tokenanalyst]

Feikai Materials Suzhou Semiconductor Materials Production Base Lays Ground​

According to Feikai Materials, on June 7, the groundbreaking ceremony of Suzhou Kaixin Semiconductor Materials Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Feikai Materials, was held in Zhangjiagang City, Suzhou. According to reports, Suzhou Kaixin covers an area of 55 acres. In the initial stage of construction, it is expected to add 30,000 tons of semiconductor special materials and 13,500 tons of supporting materials per year. In the future, it will become the largest semiconductor material production base of Feikai Group, and its products include key semiconductor materials such as photoresist, G5-level ultra-high purity solvents, and semiconductor wet process chemicals.

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[tokenanalyst]

Shengmei Shanghai's RMB 4.482 billion private placement application was approved by the Shanghai Stock Exchange​

On June 7, ACM Shanghai issued an announcement stating that the company received the "Exchange Review Opinion on the Issuance of Shares by ACM Semiconductor Equipment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. to Specific Objects" issued by the Shanghai Stock Exchange on June 6, 2025. The company's application for issuing shares to specific objects meets the issuance conditions, listing conditions and information disclosure requirements. The Shanghai Stock Exchange will submit the company's application documents to the China Securities Regulatory Commission for registration after receiving them.

However, it also said that the company's issuance of A-shares to specific objects this time still needs to obtain the China Securities Regulatory Commission's decision to agree to registration before it can be implemented. There is still uncertainty as to whether the China Securities Regulatory Commission can ultimately obtain the decision to agree to registration and the timing of the decision.

According to the latest plan for the private placement disclosed by Shengmei Shanghai, the total amount of funds raised by the company from issuing shares to specific objects will not exceed 4.482 billion yuan. After deducting the issuance expenses, the net amount of funds raised by Shengmei Shanghai will be mainly invested in R&D and process testing platform construction projects (922 million yuan), high-end semiconductor equipment iteration R&D projects (2.255 billion yuan), and to supplement working capital (1.304 billion yuan).
As one of the few Chinese semiconductor equipment manufacturers that have successfully entered the high-end markets in Europe and the United States, Shengmei Shanghai has established a complete matrix of front-end semiconductor equipment products. The company has formed a unique competitive advantage in the global market through differentiated technology routes. Since its listing, the company's performance has maintained a steady growth trend.

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[tokenanalyst]

Mechanism of Impurity Content in Degradation and Damage Characteristics of Calcium Fluoride Crystals by X-Ray and Deep-Ultraviolet Laser Irradiation​

Abstract​

Calcium fluoride (CaF2) crystals are widely utilized in deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography due to their excellent optical properties. The laser-induced degradation and damage of CaF2 crystals is a critical concern that restricts its extended application. Impurities of CaF2 crystal are considered a key factor affecting its laser resistance. Establishing the quantitative relationship and mechanism of impurity content impacting the degradation and damage characteristics of CaF2 crystal is essential. This study investigated the characteristics of different impurity contents affecting the degradation and laser-induced damage thresholds (LIDTs) of CaF2 crystals under X-ray and 193 nm pulsed laser irradiations, and quantitatively analyzed the degradation process and mechanism. Our findings demonstrate that impurities at ppm levels significantly diminish the transmittance of CaF2 crystals across various wavelengths following X-ray irradiation. In contrast, these impurities have a negligible effect on the LIDT test results, suggesting distinct damage mechanisms between X-ray and laser irradiation. This study provides valuable insights for optimizing the CaF2 crystal fabrication process and enhancing irradiation resistance.​

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[tphuang]

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This is interesting. I was talking to some people today and it's very interesting that they were telling me Espressif's ESP32 chip is now basically the industry standard where everyone uses on their IoT devices.

It's kind of interesting, because I have never heard of them before today.

And Rockchip's RK3588 is the most supported and most popular board for AIoT boards.

Both Chinese companies. And in IoT and electronics devices, the main chips are all Chinese.

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basically, you can't do devices using wifi and bluetooth without ESP32

 

[tokenanalyst]

With support from Huawei, New Unigroup, etc., China Integrated Circuit Academy +1​

On June 6, the School of Integrated Circuits of Tianjin Polytechnic University was officially established. This move is an important layout of the school in response to the national integrated circuit strategy, aiming to cultivate high-level compound integrated circuit talents.

In his speech, Jiang Yong, president of Tianjin Polytechnic University, pointed out that the new college will focus on the intersection of high-end chips and flexible photonics, relying on basic disciplines such as physics, materials science, and chemistry, and deeply integrating applied disciplines such as electronic information, artificial intelligence, textile science and technology, electrical engineering, and control science and engineering. Its research directions will cover basic materials, device theory, manufacturing processes, and system integration, building a full-chain technology ecosystem from basic materials to intelligent integration.

The college was led by the School of Electronic and Information Engineering of Tianjin Polytechnic University. It is based on the two characteristic disciplines of Tianjin's service industry, advanced electronic materials and devices and advanced electronic information, and is jointly built by relevant colleges and scientific research teams within the school and six leading industry companies including Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., New Ziguang Group, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 46 Institute, Tianjin National Xinhuo Entrepreneurship and Innovation Base, China Radio and Television Metrology and Testing Group, and TCL Huanxin Semiconductor.

After the establishment of the college, it will focus on strengthening the joint construction of the "X+Y" integrated undergraduate, master and doctoral talent training system with these leading enterprises and bases in the industry, implement new engineering project-based team teaching in response to the industry's most advanced technologies and most urgent needs, and strive to cultivate high-level innovative and compound talents covering the entire chain of materials, chips, manufacturing, packaging and testing, and systems.

In order to achieve multidisciplinary cross-integration, the college has also established five core teaching teams: "Integrated Circuit Devices and Principles", "Processes and Manufacturing", "Design and EDA", "Packaging and Testing", and "New Computing Power", effectively breaking down the traditional departmental barriers. In terms of the curriculum system, the college has reshaped it, adding dozens of new integrated circuit courses and cross-modules, and building nearly 100 professional advanced courses covering the five core areas of theory, design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, and application. Academician teachers and core teaching teams jointly teach to ensure high-standard training quality.

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[tokenanalyst]

Gree Electric's self-developed chips account for 30% of household air conditioners​

At the latest performance briefing, Zhang Zhouhu, secretary of the board of directors of Gree Electric Appliances, revealed that the company's self-developed chips have been widely used in household air-conditioning products, with the overall self-developed applications accounting for about 30%. He pointed out that Gree's chip products mainly include power semiconductors and integrated circuit chips. In addition, these self-developed chips are also widely used in commercial air-conditioning, intelligent equipment and industrial robots.
Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric Appliances, said in an interview last December that Gree's chip research and development has successfully completed the entire industrial chain from independent design to manufacturing, without relying on state funds in the process. She emphasized that the process of building a chip factory made her very proud.

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[SixthSense]

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This is interesting. I was talking to some people today and it's very interesting that they were telling me Espressif's ESP32 chip is now basically the industry standard where everyone uses on their IoT devices.

It's kind of interesting, because I have never heard of them before today.
...
basically, you can't do devices using wifi and bluetooth without ESP32

I think your statement is a little more applicable to the present day of consumer embedded device development but from my understanding, the likes of Nordic (nRF) are very competitive for mindshare outside of China (perhaps not as important when the majority of new consumer IoT products are Chinese), especially in BLE applications. Nordic posted about double the revenue of Espressif last year

They're also not that present in more stringent settings (Industrial IoT, FuSa stuff etc.) yet so they still have plenty of room to grow into in the wider world of wireless

Of note, in the last three years, Espressif have been migrating the ESP32 family from Cadence-affiliated Xtensa cores to RISC-V designs (e.g. if you follow this area you'll have seen lots of new dev kits for the ESP32-P4, a dual core RISC-V MCU, of late). Even excluding the licensing geopolitics, ARM's post-IPO change in direction from a (relatively) cheap licensor towards picking fights with its customers and competing with

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could nudge people and companies towards developing for RISC-V more generally, which ESP32 should benefit from

Very much one of China's most exciting chip design companies at the moment, looking forward to seeing where they go from here. They are doing great in the hobbyist/small-medium scale space (one of the few MCU producers with a directly supported Rust SDK which should be attractive for new embedded developers), hopefully we'll see adoption by some established players in future

 

[tphuang]

I think your statement is a little more applicable to the present day of consumer embedded device development but from my understanding, the likes of Nordic (nRF) are very competitive for mindshare outside of China (perhaps not as important when the majority of new consumer IoT products are Chinese), especially in BLE applications. Nordic posted about double the revenue of Espressif last year

They're also not that present in more stringent settings (Industrial IoT, FuSa stuff etc.) yet so they still have plenty of room to grow into in the wider world of wireless

Of note, in the last three years, Espressif have been migrating the ESP32 family from Cadence-affiliated Xtensa cores to RISC-V designs (e.g. if you follow this area you'll have seen lots of new dev kits for the ESP32-P4, a dual core RISC-V MCU, of late). Even excluding the licensing geopolitics, ARM's post-IPO change in direction from a (relatively) cheap licensor towards picking fights with its customers and competing with

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

could nudge people and companies towards developing for RISC-V more generally, which ESP32 should benefit from

Very much one of China's most exciting chip design companies at the moment, looking forward to seeing where they go from here. They are doing great in the hobbyist/small-medium scale space (one of the few MCU producers with a directly supported Rust SDK which should be attractive for new embedded developers), hopefully we'll see adoption by some established players in future

yeah, I hadn't followed this space before, but was shocked today to hear just how dominant they are in the space they are in. Apparently, anyone doing electronics have to learn to use the dev kits. That's a pretty good moat to have.

Especially since all the consumer IoT devices are produced in China these days.

I just wish more Chinese chip designers actually take advantage of the huge market they have.

Rockchip is kind of doing that in the SBC space, but honestly, their chips are not that good. They just got such a huge head start that the entire software/dev ecosystem is on their side.